This invention relates to a method for restoring and maintaining buoyancy and an apparatus for preventing loss of buoyancy for a floatplane.
Floatplanes are airplanes with floats attached for landing and taking off on water. The floats must have sufficiency buoyancy to allow the entire airplane to float on water and therefore must be watertight. Floatplanes are often used in remote areas where landing areas are unavailable because a floatplane only requires a clear stretch of water to land. Some floats on floatplanes are also equipped with wheels to allow the floatplane to taxi out of the water after landing and this invention applies equally well to such wheeled floats. Floats on floatplanes usually are made of sections of aluminum (or other light and rigid material) riveted together.
Because floatplanes are often used in remote locations, they are often far away from repair facilities. Thus, if the float on a floatplane develops a leak, it is very difficult, if not impossible, to repair the leak. The loss of buoyancy caused by a leak in a floatplane float will usually make it impossible to taxi and take off. Thus, there is a need for a method of restoring and maintaining the buoyancy of floatplane floats that can be used in a remote area.
Various patents have been issued for methods and apparatus for raising sunken vessels. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 643,766 issued to Grant described an apparatus for raising sunken vessels that employed air bags and pontoons. However, an inventor seeking to solve the problem of restoring and maintaining buoyancy for a floatplane would not look to apparatus for raising sunken vessels because a leak on a floatplane will not cause the float to sink, although it will reduce the buoyancy sufficiently to prevent the plane from taking off. In fact, floatplanes were not even invented at the time of the patent to Grant, so that the problem solved by this invention was not even in existence at the time the patent was issued to Grant.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a method for restoring and maintaining the buoyancy of floatplane floats. It is a further object of this invention to provide such a method that can be practiced with equipment that is lightweight and compact to allow storage on the floatplane itself so that it will be available during emergencies. It is a further object of this invention to provide an apparatus that will prevent the loss of buoyancy in the first place.